The Journals of Voice Ibris Menaloy (Vol. I - VII)

These journals were originally written by Ibris Menaloy, the Voice of the Tribe (??? - 630). In both his life and his death, his journals have exchanged many hands, often used as a window into the old continent Norenia and the Orc's side of it's history during the time of undead occupancy. They mainly detail research around the "Bonoliths" and their creator.

[Published by IPCS on the 30th of First Frost's Reign of the year 630]

Ibris' Journal
My name is Ibris, and in this journal I will document my research regarding the three Bone Monoliths that have sprouted across Norenia. Currently there are two of these Monoliths left, the current culprit is a hooded, Orcish figure whom I haven’t been “lucky” enough to encounter myself yet, and us Orcs have largely lost contact with the voices of our ancestors— we can only contact them through our own Monolith, which has not been affected to my knowledge. I will begin my research by exposing various beings to these “Bonoliths”, sentient or otherwise.

Subject 1:

Species: A common pig

Time of exposure: I lost track

Effect: Because I lost track, I had to terminate this experiment. When I tried to I couldn’t harm the pig, but once it left the Bonolith’s sphere of influence I could kill it like usual.

Other than that it didn’t appear to be affected.

Notes: I wouldn’t eat the pork.

Subject 2:

Species: A creeper

Time of exposure: Five minutes

Effect: The creeper became less interested in me a couple of times, wandering towards the Bone Monolith instead. However, it would quickly come back to me afterwards. Perhaps the Bonolith is trying to change the creeper’s instinct to protect it? Or is the creeper trying to destroy the Bonolith, but losing a battle of will and coming after me instead? After the five minutes passed, getting it out of the Bonolith’s influence caused it to act normal again.

Notes: It appears to be affected, but I can’t quite tell what happened to it.

Subject 3:

Species: An orc

Name: Ibris

Time of exposure: Five seconds

Effect: Whilst standing under the Bone Monolith, I felt… weak. My eyesight was blocked by darkness, despite it being day. I felt the Bonolith, but it felt inherently wrong, like it is something that shouldn’t exist. Who am I kidding, of course it shouldn’t exist! This vile mirror of the things we orcs hold dear is an offense to all our race stands for… I wonder what drove this hooded madman to create these horrible structures, because I cannot comprehend why one would defile their heritage in such a gruesome way….

Notes: My spiritual connection is rather weak as of now, as I only recently first connected to a Monolith. If it could disturb me to this point, me, someone this weak, what could it do to someone like a SightStealer, or the Voice? All orcs should stay as far as possible from these horrid things, but I fear I will need to stick around to perform my duties…

Subject 4:

Species: A rose

Time of exposure: Five minutes

Effect: It wilted and decayed into dust that blew away.

Notes: There’s no rose left now.

Subject 5:

Species: Human

Name: Ian Valois

Time of exposure: 1 minute or so

Effect: They describe it as “awful”, they can’t see, and they feel faint. They say they feel nothing from the Bone Monolith aside from a sense of doom…

Notes: Ian had no prior exposure to orc magic or a normal Monolith past seeing an orc perform magic once. Humans are not as affected by the Bonolith, but should avoid them regardless.

Subject 6:

Species: Human-orc hybrid

Name: Cassius Hearth

Time of exposure: Two minutes

Effect: Light-headedness at first, then he says it’s indescribable, in a bad way. The Bonolith makes him feel afraid.

Notes: Cassius has never touched a Monolith, because he was raised as a human rather than as an orc. He also appears to have more trouble recovering from his exposure. This test slightly contradicts my theory that how much someone is affected is determined by how strong their connection to the Spirit Realm is— rather, how easily their species connections. This means humans are the ideal people to face the Bone Monoliths— but I still discourage everyone who doesn’t have a good reason to be exposed.

What this research has exposed is very worrying. The Bonoliths are nothing like I’ve seen or heard of before. Whoever created them seeks a goal I don’t know or understand, and nobody appears to be entirely unaffected. The Voice told me something about that they could corrupt someone— I have not seen this for myself, and I intend to keep it that way. While this outlook is grim, it’s not hopeless: a Bone Monolith was destroyed. I will ask one of the people responsible for this heroic act for the details, which hopefully leads to us to finding a way to rid the land of them once and for all. The man I intend to turn to is a huntsman by the name of Rurik. Rurik and the other people, whose names I do not know, fought a human witch doctor by the name of Vaughn, who used the Bonoliths to poison the inhabitants of Olrum’s Rest. Whether this man works with, for or independently of the hooded orc is unknown to me.

Rurik told me that the scientist Vaughn works for the cloaked figure, but he doesn’t know what the figure wants. The Bonolith was destroyed by placing gemstones that looked like eyes in sockets around it. The Bone Monolith couldn’t handle the power, apparently and exploded. Not even a crater remains…

Furthermore, the scientist had created both the plague and the plague beast, a horribly disfigured zombie. Also, several children were kidnapped for unknown experimentes. The plague slime was pumped by a machine, which was destroyed alongside the slime. Also, a witch was camping near the Bonolith, to study it for unknown reasons. She assisted the heroes, but did not want it destroyed.

Ibris' Second Journal
We made a massive breakthrough— I saw the cloaked figure. His name is Zulga and he wants to unite all of Norenia under the banner of undeath. I do not need to explain how troubling this is. He has cast several places into eternal darkness using something called a "Calamity Cirrus", and the only way to get rid of it is by using the "Ocular Orbs" to destroy the Bonolith. We do not know where they are. The aforementioned witch, Cassandra, couldn't help us, and neither could I presume her boss, Headmaster Dullin, without some sacrifice.

Three robed figures have appeared around the Bonolith, they cannot be harmed and ignore us. They are constantly summoning undead orcs, so this Bonolith should be avoided. It is the near Redcliff. The Orcish Bonolith appears to be unchanged.

Sightstealer Ibris' Third Journal
After formally completing my task of researching the Bonoliths, I became a SightStealer. However, the Voice tasked me with continuing my research, so here I am. I will record my further findings in this book.

A man approached me, telling me I had forgotten about the Skeletal Knights that roam Norenia— I hadn't thought of researching their connection to the Bonoliths, so I will proceed to do so.

I will need to postpone this research. Something horrible has happened— Norenia has been cast into eternal darkness for real this time. Forget the Calamity Cirri, as it is midnight now and time doesn't appear to pass. Further investigation is necessary.

Breakthrough. I went to check on the Bonolith and lo and behold, three sockets appeared. Also, there is a tunnel that some strange magic prevents me from entering. Surely this means we have a shot at destroying another Bonolith! I will embark on this expedition at once, and I won't be alone...

When I said I won't be alone, I thought I would be in the company of warriors— I am, but this one annoying "magic" guy is here. He knows magic, but it always involves the sacrifice of someone. If he helps, fine. But I hope we won't have to kill.

Another robed fiugre appeared, saying something like... "He has been summoned!" "Eternal darkness!" His name is Raignald. He looks human underneath his robes, and he appears to worship the moon. He's also kind of a shut-in. HE WORKS FOR ZULGA! He owns a strange, magical device that he uses for demonic summoning. The demon is invisible, too. Or non-existent? No, I heard it. The demon powers the eternal midnight, so we're banishing it. The device protects the demon.

We found the Community Center, thanks to Shara. It contained an Orb! The archbishop, who is here too, is gonna try to banish the demon... I doubt human magic, but it's worth a shot.

He released the demon.

We killed it, we have another orb now. Raignald told us more about Zulga's plan— he wants to make an army to fight the Spirit Realm...

We've hit a moral dilema— destroying the Bonolith will kill Raignald. Luckily the Headmaster has a spell that protects him. I don't trust him, but the Voice does and I trust the Voice.

We destroyed the Bonolith, but shut-in died. Apparently Zulga is more powerful then Headmaster Dullin... What a surprise...

Two Bonoliths down, one to go. The sockets have not appeared, but I think I might have found a way to acquire the Ocular Orbs farm more quickly. When we killed the demon, a lot of strange, tall man appeared. I have seen them before, I thought they where just another type of monster native to this place, but after seeing them appear when a device connected to a Bonolith was damaged... It surprises me. These creatures, when killed leave behind strange pearls that oddly resemble the Ocular Orbs. When I first met Headmaster Dullin, he said the Ocular Orbs would be created by having them enter this plane together with the Bonoliths, so maybe... Maybe these dark creatures are from the same place as the Bonoliths. This could mean the pearls are somehow related to the orbs.

Seeing as this place they originate from is likely to end both Norenia and the Spirit Realm is Zulga is succesful, I have decided to call it "The End". I can't think of anything better, I'm drunk whilst writing this okay? Anyways, Cassius told me about the pearls so credit to him I guess.

I don't know anything about The End other than that it's most likely the source of our opponents power. I can't prove this theory without going there, and that's nuts. So I guess this is just a theory?

I need to sober up, damn it. I wish the people here would just SHUT UP! Ah well, I guess I shouldn't be writing all this down... Long story short, The End. Nasty place. Stay away. I decided to call the men from the End "Endermen" and their pearls "Enderpearls". I can't think of anything better...

Guess I should experiment with this? See if I can track the Orbs using the pearls? Alchemy could be a place to start. Anyways, I guess the Knight stuff is for Journal 4.

SightStealer Ibris' Fourth Journal
I have made progress. But before that, I want to note some things: the Knights are linked to the Bonolith's, but they're little more than elites in Zulga's army— at least from what I can tell. The Ender Pearls where a dead end (pun not inENDed), regarding tracking the Eyes. It just doesn't work, but I might revisit this research at a later date. Now to the really important part: I ran into two pirates who claim to posses the final Ocular Orbs. They demand three million gold in return, coming specifically from Ian Valois. I guess his reputation of being rich has caught up to him. Also, whilst performing a routine check on the last Bonolith, I overheard a conversation stating that couple of lower pirates lost the Orbs... This sounds like bad news, but I think it's an opportunity! We find the Orbs before them, and we can destroy that Bonolith right after the sockets appear!

Call me arrogant, but I will attempt this search alone. It's dangerous, but if word spreads to the pirate captain it will just get harder. Also, I found another encampment near the Bonolith that resembles the one inhabited by the witch Cassandra. I surely hope I will finally be able to exchange research with her, as she's the only other expert on these things past Zulga and maybe Zulga's henchmen. There is a second encampment, that appears to house soldiers. Not much going on, although they might be disguised pirates.

I can't find the Ocular Orbs anywhere, nor the pirates. We can't pay three million, I doubt there's even that much gold in Norenia. The only option is to steal the Orbs, but we would need another party for that— many members are nowhere to be found right now. Finding these orbs on my own isn't an option anymore... I intend to find them with the help of the party that destroyed the other Bonoliths, and possibly more people.

I have a plan: Capture the pirates and make them tell where they lost the Orbs. We look from there and once we find them, we destroy the Bonolith right after the sockets appear. If possible, we hire the pirates to assist us. I have an idea what the next Bonolith curse is, and we need all hands on deck to prevent it.

The first Bonolith was located in Ulrom's Rest. It weakened the people of that place specifically, so that they would be less able to defend themselves against the undead. The second Bonolith was near Redcliff— it darkened the human half of the island, so that the undead could survive there. The last Bonolith is located near the Tribe of the First Monolith. It will most likely bring about an invasion of undead, which will besiege the village and most notably, the true Monolith. If they capture it, they can use it to attack the Spirit Realm, and all will be lost. The humans can't defend themselves against the undead armies once all orcs in Norenia join their ranks. Our magic would destroy them. If this Bonolith activates, it will begin the final battle over the fate of Norenia...

Sightstealer Ibris' Fifth Journal
I made a material wall around the True Monolith, and the Voice will shield it magically. In the mean time, I will seek more SightStealers. The Voice told me to find Shara, Cassius and Jessica. I see we are training humans now? This either means peace or despair, how I hope for the former...

My mission has been postponed. Cassandra has showed up, and Rurik tells of a creature called the White Stag, with magic antlers. It can be summoned using a magic book or tablet, and we need it because... Rurik wants to help a friend. I will help later, this is more important.

I have brought Shara and Jessica, but I couldn't find Cassius. The Voice has requested a magical artifact, and Rurik's antler should work. I guess we're doing that now.

We found the rune, but deciphering it takes time. I will find potential SightStealers in the meantime.

We lost the deal for the Orbs, but we're making a new plan: entering their ship.

Something strange happened: the Voice told me and Rurik that there was problem in the Dark Heart, a sacred burial ground where orcs can pass one of the trials to become SightStealers. We checked, and we were spoken to by the Chaos Spirit, one of the ancestral spirits we can speak to via our Monolith. Chaos told us that we must destroy the shrine that the Voice worships, because he's trapped inside the Heart and that would free him. We did not do that, but once we returned to the Voice, he did not remember giving us a mission, or even meeting Rurik at all.

Turns out that when he gave us the mission, he was possessed by Chaos Spirit. Me, the Voice, and Shara are going to check on the Shrine— as for Chaos, he is yet another problem for us to worry about...

I ran into another pirate. His name is Frodi, and he's not the brightest: he was looking for Miklan, claiming he was Miklan's son. Because he looked like a sailor, I asked him whether he was orc or human, knowing Miklan is a hybrid. He answered, his father was human and his mother an orc. This is obviously a ruse to find Miklan... But to what goal?

I am spying on two pirates. One is complaining about how the other presumably hasn't found Miklan. The other, Frodi, says he likes it here, but his orcish superior, the traitor, says we aren't nice. Of course this is only true to our enemies. Frodi said Miklan would teach him how to kill? I don't know Miklan well, but this is suspicious. The orc warned someone about something... He warned Hani not to touch his kid? Why is Hani here?

Frodi is just being not the sharpest tool in the shed, but that cheers up the orc. I wonder where this is going... Hani once told me I trust people too easily. Maybe this is the time to distrust them and Miklan... I cannot let another plan fall apart.

Miklan has arrived, and he appears to be in cahoots with them. Frodi is rather excited...

Hani is an aspiring SightStealer, so this might be a ruse. But then again, him being a SightStealer could be one too. Miklan mentioned he adviced FRodi to return to the Rest. Clearly he is in on this.

The orc mentioned that Frodi is the best "sneaker" in their crew. He might be dangerous after all. Frodi mentioned someone named Oliber, who is their friend. Miklan is not part of the crew. I can't trust anyone!

Miklan is a hero to them, and a "good" role model to Frodi according to the orc. Surely this is bad. Miklan told me he is no hero. The orc is protective of Frodi, this might be a weakness I can exploit.

They're leaving. I better hide. I hid in the bar as a customer— the perfect ruse! I need to get information in trustworthy hands.

Miklan is trying to convince them to give up the Orbs, but the orc won't listen. The orc hates me for poisoning him. At least he will bring us to the captain.

We depart, but we can't bring any weapons. Not that it matters, I'm still deadly with just my firsts, and I tricked them into letting me take my pipe— while smoking a specific herb I brought, I can survive almost anything. It's better then the best armor. This way I'll be a deadly warrior regardless, and even then I can still cast magic.

We have arrived at Pirate Cove. Miklan is taking charge in convincing the captain.

We were attacked by an army of undead, surely Zulga's doing. The orbs are gone too. The captain died too, backstabbed by his own crew. An undead crewmember has taken over, and is acting strangely. He appears to be possessed.

He is dead. At least we get the Orbs now, according to Lu. I tried to heal captain Oliver, and I was successful. He didn't, in fact, lose the Orbs. What a bunch of pitiful clods.

I know where the Orbs are. When me and Rurik were tricked by Chaos Spirit, we fought a specific type of nautical undead. The same type who took the Orbs. They're in the Dark Heart, I know it...

We will seek them once I find the Voice and Shara.

SightStealer Ibris' Sixth Journal
I met Cission today, the man behind the Great Norenian Library. King Harvey told me he was a wise man, and while I doubt the king in nearly every single way, I must say he was right. I showed Cission the last Bonolith, and he said he wants to research how our Monoliths connect to human divinity. It is truly an interesting prospect, and a field of research I am willing to pioneer once we've dealt with Zulga.

Hani came to me with something important to say: apparently, Frodi took one of the Orbs before the rest was stolen. It is now kept in Ian's vault. I will need to talk to Ian about handing me the Orb, given that a SightStealer like me is Norenia's best bet at keeping it safe 'till the others are acquired.

Ian gave me the Ocular Orb. Finally, I've got something to show to the Voice. I hid it in a place Zulga will never look, one that is poetically fitting. I will not say where for safety reasons, but trust me, the Orb is safe.

There are classes today at Aquentus Aquairus, to teach the public about magic to fight Zulga. I have doubted Dullin a lot, but this is something I fully agree with. It would have been helpful if more people actually showed up... I suppose this will do.

The Voice told me that a corruption he calls The Poison is spreading from the Bonolith. I need to look into this, to see if I can contain it. If not, it may not even need a curse to hurt us. Imagine if it managed to spread to the True Monolith! There does not appear to be a physical change around the Bonolith however.

The other curses where close together, time-wise. I wonder why this one is so far apart from the rest...

Well, my hiding place for the Orb wasn't too smart after all. I don't want to talk about the details, but it was a bad idea. The Orb is fine, luckily, but I have some adverse health effects... Maybe The Poison also spreads from these Orbs? If so, I may have found a way to research it.

The Orbs are in good hands now.

Harvey has been overthrown and Ian Valois is the new ruler. Dorbourogh is in good hands, and I trust this means proper cooperation in combating the Bonoliths.

A strange man appeared in the village. I do not know his name, his face is concealed by a mask and he's a total jerk. However, he claims to know more about both the Bonoliths and magic in general. While he may simply be insane, if he's right he may be an invaluable ally. He decided to live at the True Monolith, despite my protests. If it were up to me he'd be dead by now, but neither physical force nor magic affects him. I've tried.

It appears the White Stag's antler will not be able to shield the Monolith for whatever reason. I hope we can find another way to do so, as I'm getting more worried every day that Bonolith doesn't do anything.

Me and Hani went to the Dark Heart. Something's wrong, I can feel it. That, and we an see it— the entrance is blocked off with lava. Hani says the Bonolith is doing this, and I don't really doubt that notion. The Well has changed too... It's not longer poisonous.

Whilst investigating something else entirely, we stumbled upon three sockets like the ones at the Bonoliths, with two of them containing Ocular Orbs. Could this mean we can finally free Norenia once and for all? There is some orcish creature named Gol here too, who just said Zulga's name... He told us Zulga turned him into this... abomination.

He claims to be his sub... Could Zulga even find someone willing to be mother of his child? Nah, he's undead.

Zulga is here.

There's a crystal too.

Also Zulga is undead apparently.

We beat him. I mean, he escaped, but we beat Zilga! We also acquired the other two Orbs, this is great news for sure.

Ibris' Seventh Journal
Okay, so I built a wall around the final Bonolith... And now there's a giant hole in it. I don't know if it was made by a the Bonolith or something else, but... It's not good.

I found out more about the effects Ocular Orbs have on living beings. Frodi had some side-effects himself too, except he got things like invisibility and teleportation. It appears the Orb gives away random magical properties or something...

Me and a group of others Orcs went to save the Dark Heart from the poison within it. Sadly, despite our best efforts, I have returned much later only to find the corruption having returned, worse then before.

In one of my earlier books I speculated that the Bonoliths are connected to a world other then the Spirit Realm, and lately I have attained much more information about the possibility of other worlds, so I will be revising this theory. First off, I recommend reading the book "On Magical Planes: A cursory Analysis of the Magical Reality Beyond Sense-Perception" by Xyrion Delphon, as it contains a lot of necessary context. It's quite complicated though, so here's a small recap:

The world we live in is called the Terra, and past that there's the Caelus (A strange dream-world) and the Florientum (The source of magic). Now, there's also the Spirit Realm that the Orcs know, but someone who actually lives in that dimension told me that the Spirit Realm, the Florientum and the Caelus are actually the same plane. This means that there's two known planes: the Terra and this unnamed combined plane. I simply like to refer to it as the Other Side, given the accuracy of that description. In my previous theory I stated that the Bonolith is connected to a hypothetical plane that I dubbed "The End", given what it'll do to us if we don't stop it.

Please keep in mind I was drunk while naming it. However, given that all worlds outside of the Terra that we know of turned out to be the same, it is a possibility that they're actually connected to the Other Side, just like the true Monoliths, the Alvs of Magic and possibly our very minds. This would however not directly explain the negative effects from Orcs connecting with it.

However, I'd like to propose the following: Through some unfortunate experiments during the Orc-Human wars, humans have been exposed to the Monolith. All but one either died or went insane. However, we know that humans can make use of magic. That's why I say that somehow, some species are better at surviving specific amounts of exposure to mana. Humans have a low capacity, Orcs have a high one. So what if the Bone Monoliths connect to a source so powerful not even we can handle it? It could connect to areas of the Other Side that somehow are even more powerful then others magic-wise, which explains how we can't handle it and how they're used mainly for casting curses powerful enough to affect such a large radius as the entire river at Ulrom's Rest, or how they could send all of Norenia into an everlasting midnight.

Not only that, but the process of destroying a Bonolith via Orbs is referred to by the people who used them overloading it. If it's already under the strain of that much mana, it's no wonder that giving it even mor power causes them to explode violently. The only problem with this theory is that one of the natural rules of magic states that mana is infinite. Something infinite cannot exist in higher concentrations in some parts of the Other Side, because infinity cannot be quantified. To this, I say that maybe it's not about the concentration.

The book I mentioned earlier spoke of a theory claiming that the Caelus contains a superior form of mana we simply haven't discovered yet, and although this is technically untrue given that the Caelus is the Florientum, it wouldn't be a stretch to assume that they where confused for different worlds because they are radically different parts of the same world. We know that Alvs can affect the area around them, so mana can change it's surroundings. Maybe have two types of mana can make two parts of the same world look and function so different one wouldn't believe they're the same world.

So possibly, this theoretical Caelus region of the Other Side contains higher-grade mana, whereas the Florientum region would contain regular mana. Further proof is the fact that the discoverer of the Caelus claimed that all his thoughts would become reality there, which could actually be the usage of a magic so powerful it matched omnipotence.

Surely when someone's practically swimming in mana using it should be no problem, especially if that person's a mage. So there you have it, the possibility that the Bonoliths connect to a source of higher-grade magic. What this form of mana should be called I do not know, but many researchers in the field of magic named their findings after themselves so I may do that. I hope that maybe we could use this form of magic for good, given how much it can affect at the same time. I suggest killing Zulga may be a bad idea, instead we should question him to find out how he created and controlled the Bonoliths. Caution will be neccesary, but the payoff may be grand.

There was a sudden earthquake today, and the Bonolith's wall is damaged again. I haven't seen damage to anything else, so it would be fair to presume that this is in fact the Bonolith's doing... It's getting active, and recently Zulga was sighted again. He stole back his staff that we took when we fought him, and he is now able to possess his cub Gol.

He tried to kill Gazer Hani via him, who for context is the love of my life. Seriously I want to kill this guy. But I guess it's still worth figuring out how he made artificial Monoliths...

Honor Spirit, having possessed the Voice's body, claims to know of a way to destroy the final Bonolith. All we need is Jessica and Ian to bring the final two Orbs and we can begin.